Car-truck.



No. 638,555. Patented nec. 5, |899.

- A. Hamam.

CAR TRUCK.

Y. (Application filed Mar. 29, 1899.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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No. 638,665. Patanted Dec. 5. |899. A. R. GREEN.

(IAR TRUCK.

QAp'plicaton filed Mar. 29, 1899.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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lNrTED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

ALEXANDER R. GREN, OF HOUSTON, VIRGINIA.

CAR-TRUCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 638,665, datedDecember 5, 1899.

Application led March 29, 1899. Serial No. 711,001. (N0 mOdSL) T0 allwhom it' may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALExANDEE R. GREEN, residing at Houston, in thecounty of Halifax and State of Virginia, have made certain new anduseful Improvements in Car-Trucks, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention is an improvement in cartrucks, having for an objectimproved constructions for adjusting the trucks of cars to cause thesame to move easily in round-,

ing curves; and the invention consists in certain novel constructionsand combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointedout in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a bottom plan view of a car, parts beingbroken away and others shown in section, with the parts in full lines aswhen moving on a straight line and in dotted lines as when rounding acurve. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the parts in dotted lines inrounding a curve opposite that shown in Fig. l, and Fig. 3 showsasomewhat dierent arrangement of the parts.

In carryingout my invention the end trucks A are pivoted and theintermediate truck is arranged to move radially beneath the car, andthese trucks may be constructed and connected with the car to securesuch movement in any desired manner. By preference I form the radialtruck with a framing having at its center a bar O, extending from frontto rear, to which are connected the pitman connections, as shown, inorder to secure a strong bracing between the pitman connections leadingto the opposite end trucks. Pitman connections extend between the radialtruck and the end trucks, two of such connections being provided foreach end truck and connecting with the end trucks on opposite sides ofthe pivot of said truck. Each pitman connection is composed of twosections D and E, which are pivoted together at their meeting ends F andat their other ends, respectively, to the end and radial trucks, so themovement of the radial truck will operate the end trucks as desired. Inconnection with the pitman connection I provide the brace-rod G, one foreach of the pitman connections. At one end the rod G is pivoted to thepitman connection at the joint of the sections D and F. of saidconnection, while the other end of the brace-rod G is pivoted at G tothe car, so such end G of the rod is held to the car, While the radialtruck moves beneath the car to effect the desired operation of thepitman connection, and thereby the operation of the end truck, as willbe under stood from the drawings.

It will be seen that the radial truck as it moves from side to sidebeneath the car will positively operate the end trucks by means of thetwo pitman connections operating on opposite sides of the pivot of eachof the end trucks. In this operation one pitman connection will drawupon the end truck on one side while the opposite pitman connection willpush upon the same end truck on the opposite side, so the two pitmanconnections will operate positively upon the same end truck. In thesemovements the brace-rods G operate both to guide and brace the pitmanconnections in securing the desired Inovements.

In the construction shown and as preferred the sections E of the pitmanconnection are pivoted at e to the radial truck at the same point and ata point about midway between the opposite ends of the said radial truck,so the sections E, the rods G, and the radial truck form triangles,which are approxi; mately equilateral when the car is moving on astraight line and which vary as the car rounds a curve.

In Fig. 3 I show an arrangement similar to that shown in Figs. l and 2,except that the sections E2 of the pitman connections cross each otheradjacent to the radial truck and pivot to such truck on opposite sidesof a central line, the-operation being the same as in the otherconstruction.

The purpose of my invention,it willbe seen, is to lessen greatly orremove entirely the friction between the car-wheels and the rails of thetrack (both on the side and top) in passing around curves. First, theoutside rail on all curves being considerably longer than the insideone, this difference in length must be made up by the outside Wheel inthe same time when att-ached fast to same axle with inside wheel andmust slide, and, second, the friction between the ange of the wheel andinside of rail is mostly due to the fact that the trucks as ordinarilyattached to the cars in passing around a curve would follow directly inthe line in which the car was drawn, or rather on the chord of the arc,instead of on the circumference, and the Wheels are only allowed to takethe curve of the rails by the amount of play permitted between the angesof opposite wheels and the rails, which play greatly increases therocking of the cars from side to side and remains a constant menace tothe safety of travel and transportation. In order to overcome thedifliculty first mentioned, the Wheels of the trucks should in practicehave separate axles, so as to move independently, the one faster orslower than the other, as it might be on the outside or inside of thecurve. I seek to overcome the difficulty mentioned secondly by couplingthe front and rear trucks of a car in such a manner and by such devicesas shall give positive and complete guidance and control of them to acentral guide-truck which is permitted to oscillate freely under thecar, asits wheels may be directed by the curve of the rails, and beingattached to the coupling, and

through it to the body of the car.

My invention,it Will be seen,is an improved coupling device between thefront and rear trucks of cars of such mechanism and arranged in suchmanner as (shown in the accompanying drawings) to give control of themto the central or guide truck, to which it is firmly attached, aswell asto the body of the car, and in such manner as Will appear from saiddrawings, the outside of said coupling device being attached to the bodyof the car and the inside being attached iirmly to the frame of theguide-truck and sliding freely with it under the car while controllingthe rotary motion of front and rear trucks, causing the axles thereof toassume the position of radii of the curve being passed, While theiianges of the wheels of front and rear trucks would strike the rails onthe tangent points of the curves, and in applying this system to theshorter cars of street-railways, either cable or electric, instead ofemploying a central radial truck as the radially-operating guide theremay be a guide-bar extending down from the center of the sliding frameand rigidly attached thereto by proper braces into and through thecentral slot for the plow or grip of the same, thus securing the samecontrol through the said guide-bar over the front and rear trucks as wassecured by the central truck in cars of greater length, and in theconstruction ofthe said coupling of the front and rear trucks framed insuch manner and attached both to the body of the car, as Well as to saidfront and rear trucks and also to the central or radial truck or centralguidebar, as above mentioned,through said pitman connections, and saidradial truck or guide- Having thus described myinvention, what I claim,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination substantially as herein described of the end truck,the radial truck, a pitman connection consisting of sections 'pivotedtogether at their meeting ends and at their other ends respectively tothe end and radial trucks, and the brace-rod pivoted at its outer end tothe car and at its inner end to the pitman connection substantially asset forth.

2. The combination with the end truck and the radial truck of the pitman connection having sections jointed together and to the end and radialtrucks and the brace-rod jointed to the car at one end and to the pitmanconnection at its other end such joint With the pitman connection beingat the connection of the sections thereof, one section of the pitmanconnection forming together with the radial truck and brace-rod, atriangle substantially as set forth.

3. The herein-described improvement in trucks consisting of the pivotedend truck, the radial truck, the pitman connections composed of sectionsjointed together at their meeting ends and at their other endsrespectively to the end and radial trucks and bracerods connected withsuch pitman connection at the joint of its sections and having pivotalconnection with the car substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of the end trucks, the radial truck having frame-barsextending from front' to rear, the pitman connections between the endtrucks and the radial truck, such connections being jointed to theframerods of the radial truck, and the brace-rods pivoted at one end tothe car and at their other ends to the pitman connections substantiallyas set forth.

5. The combination substantially as described of the end trucks, aradially-operating guide between said trucks, a pitman connectionconsisting of sections pivoted together at their meeting ends and attheir outer ends respectively to the end trucks and radiallyoperatingguides, and the brace-rods pivoted at one end to the car and at theirother ends to the pitman connections substantially as set forth.

lVitnesses:

SoLoN C. KEMON, PERRY B. TURPIN.

ALEXANDER R. GREEN. Y

ICO

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